Women receive fewer painkillers than men in emergencies

The study's authors suggest that healthcare staff perceive women as more likely to complain and exaggerate their pain. Keystone / Christian Beutler

Anyone arriving at an emergency room in pain wants immediate help. However, a new study from the USA and Israel reveals that women are treated less quickly and effectively than men.

What does the study show?

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The research team from Israel analysed over 22,000 patient records from the USA and Israel to determine whether and when patients received painkillers in the emergency room. The study revealed a clear “gender bias”: 47% of men received painkillers compared to only 38% of women. Additionally, female patients waited 30 minutes longer for pain medication than male patients.

What are the reasons?

The study’s authors suggest that healthcare staff perceive women as more likely to complain and exaggerate their pain. Consequently, male patients are taken more seriously when they express pain. This bias was present in both male and female healthcare staff. The authors also suspect that men may request painkillers more frequently.

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Why do women perceive pain differently from men?

Studies indicate that women suffer more frequently from illnesses associated with pain and feel pain more intensely. This is not because women are more sensitive to pain, but because their brains translate pain stimuli more intensely. For instance, hitting a woman’s finger with a hammer hurts more than hitting a man’s finger.

Is there also discrimination in Switzerland regarding painkiller administration?

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The situation is similar in Switzerland. Women are disadvantaged in the healthcare system here as well. Three years ago, a large study of 500,000 patient records from Swiss intensive care units showed that women had a lower chance of receiving intensive medical care than men. Younger women, in particular, had to be significantly sicker than men of the same age to be transferred to an intensive care unit.

What impact does this unequal treatment have on women?

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This can be fatal, especially if a heart attack is not recognised or is recognised too late due to different symptoms in women and men. Discrimination against women in medicine can also cause complications, longer recovery times, or lead to chronic illnesses.

How sensitised are we to gender medicine in Switzerland? The issue is now well-documented and increasingly recognised. Gender medicine is a topic at universities and hospitals, with recent training programmes and academic positions in the field. More studies on gender medicine are being conducted, and there is a growing emphasis on including women as test subjects in funded studies.

Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

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